Recently I watched the TV drama "The Great Qing Salt Merchants", and one of its storylines was particularly captivating: a plague was raging in Sichuan, while the Jinchuan region in the west was embroiled in war. The imperial court sought military funds from the salt merchants. Although previous contributions had left the salt merchants without ready cash, the funds were crucial for the stability of the court. Wang Chaozong, the chief salt merchant of Yangzhou, had to raise the funds even with his salt boats detained and colleagues imprisoned. He first managed to rescue his detained colleagues, but circumstances forced him to arrive empty-handed at Jianchang Prefecture in Jiangxi. There, private salt was rampant, and official salt had been stockpiled for years. After learning about the local situation and receiving news from his envoy sent to Sichuan to investigate the plague, he formed a major decision based on multiple sources of information. He first used a small amount of cash to buy the long-stocked official salt (winning the support of the local government), then exchanged the official salt for rhubarb and other medicinal herbs stockpiled by the people (winning the affection of the local populace), shipped the medicines to Sichuan to address the urgent need (earning the gratitude of the Sichuan government and the people), and finally used the silver obtained to fund the front lines in Jinchuan (gaining the support of the soldiers). In this way, Wang Chaozong not only made a profit but also stabilized the border and won the favor of high-ranking court officials, achieving a perfect outcome with benefits for all. Though it may seem like a coincidence, it precisely illustrates the importance of information in decision-making.
Recently, Hengan Group, in collaboration with IBM, launched its third transformation, targeting informatization, marking the beginning of Hengan's third management reform. It is reported that this cooperation will take about a year to build a platform to achieve informatization in four modules: supply chain, processes, inventory, and logistics network, with the goal of information transparency, rapid market response, and efficient coordination, making management transparent and visible, ultimately eliminating inefficiencies and blind decisions caused by information asymmetry. This move once again confirms the importance of information in decision-making. I recall that in 2002, an American consulting firm said during training: "There are no secrets between most companies; the only difference is the speed of response to information."
Analyzing why many companies are busy every day but achieve little, the first reason is that they do not value information, nor do they interpret the stories behind it. As the saying goes, "The layman watches the excitement, while the expert watches the craft." An ancient proverb illustrates the difference in knowledge between experts and laymen: "On the same piece of land, the layman sees a flat plain, vast and boundless; but in the eyes of the expert, there are peaks and valleys." Compared to laymen, experts do not spend more time and energy collecting more information; the main difference is that experts can better use that information to find more opportunities or minimize risks. Of course, information from hearsay or that which deceives superiors is like an outdated GPS, which may lead you astray. Therefore, how to discern valuable information requires long-term training and practice. For critical information, be careful not to listen to only one side; seek verification from multiple sources to avoid a mistake that could lead to lifelong regret.
In fact, years of corporate work and consulting experience have taught me that at least 95% of tissue paper companies have not yet done a good job of internal data analysis, so very few can correctly use data analysis. As for correctly applying internal and external information to corporate management and brand strategy, that is even rarer. My diagnostic analysis of tissue paper companies is carried out using both Western and Chinese medicine methods: Western medicine's CT scan and blood test, and Chinese medicine's observation, auscultation, interrogation, and palpation. The so-called CT scan is a comprehensive analysis of various data and information, mainly mining internal data and information, followed by external competitor information; the blood test is the tracking and inspection of plan execution, as well as employee, customer, and consumer satisfaction surveys, combined with CT scan results for comprehensive analysis; as for the Chinese medicine methods, the focus is on market interviews, observation of special markets, and interviews with distributors, consumers, and salespeople, analyzing and verifying through words and behavior, which can provide a basic understanding of the company and brand. Of course, for a 360-degree in-depth interpretation, a comprehensive survey of brand satisfaction, channel satisfaction, and terminal coverage is needed.
A good strategic decision can make employees work comfortably and performance steadily improve, while a "bad" strategic decision can make employees exhausted and performance difficult to improve. Some companies attribute poor performance to employee ability, which clearly violates the management principle of "responsibility, authority, and benefit" where greater power entails greater responsibility. As in Wang Chaozong's decision, because it was correct and timely, even if employees made small mistakes, it was difficult to affect the overall situation, because the overall situation and trends were in Wang Chaozong's hands. Handing the keys to life-and-death decisions to employees whose income does not match their responsibilities is neither correct nor wise.
The era of making decisions by intuition or experience is long gone. An important sign of a company's maturity is whether it has shifted from "experience-based management" to "data-based management" with data as the information foundation. This transition is also the foundation for shaping a company's core competitiveness, that is, the important transformation from operating on opportunities to operating on capabilities, from operating on products to operating on brands, and from operating on individuals to operating on organizations. Therefore, if a company's performance is poor, do not blame employees for incompetence; instead, stop and review whether the basis for decision-making, strategy, or system is scientific. We should not forget the ancient saying: "An incompetent general will exhaust the troops."
About the author: Zhang Weihong, founder of Dangdang Visual Packaging Design Co., Ltd. With 18 years of practical experience in tissue paper brand marketing management, he has led project cooperation, marketing consulting, training, and coaching for dozens of tissue paper companies, published over 30 industry articles, and is a contributing writer for "Tissue Paper" magazine. He served the Hengan Group's "Xin Xiang Yin" brand for ten years and was the first general manager of Hengan Group's Paper Market Department. After 2007, he served as the marketing director of C&S Paper. Dangdang Visual Packaging Design Company is the only service provider in mainland China focused on brand image planning and design and brand communication promotion for the tissue paper industry, offering comprehensive and systematic brand image and marketing execution solutions: brand planning and design, terminal packaging design, advertising and communication, brand management, promotion and activities, and marketing planning.
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